If there was any doubt, it evaporated when he witnessed Lord and Lady Chimes barging across his foyer as soon as his butler admitted them. Allowing them in was probably a mistake, but the alternative was cowardly.
And James was no coward. Caught on the staircase, he called behind him.
“Dearest wife, we have visitors.”Intruders, more like, he added silently.
“The Fenwicks?” Marianne called back. “I hope.”
“Alas, no,” he sighed. “Do hurry.” And he went down to greet the least likely of guests.
“I pray you know where your rapscallion son is,” Lord Chimes began.
“Good evening,” James replied, ignoring the man’s tone. “There is a lady present, so we shall adhere to all manner of civility. Lady Chimes, would you care for a glass of wine, given the hour?” It was that between time after dinner and before supper.
“No,” she said, and James could see it cost her to finish politely, “thank you. We are here because our daughter has disappeared. And we fear she is with your son.”
James wasn’t done with playing host despite not fearing anything. Rather, he knew with certainty because that’s what he would do if he fancied a forbidden lady. And also, because he had run into his son’s best friend, Lord Trent, at White’s.
“It sounds as if we have trouble brewing, and that’s always better handled with brandy.” Yanking the bellpull, he offered once again. “What about you, Chimes? Are you thirsty?”
“I wouldn’t drink with you if you were the last man on earth.”
“Rather harsh,” James muttered.
Luckily, Lady Diamond entered before he could make matters worse. And then she proceeded to do precisely that.
Upon taking one look at their guests, she announced, “Our offspring have eloped.”
“You knew about this?” Lady Chimes asked.
“About what?” his wife asked, infuriating their guests.
“About what?” Lord Chimes repeated. “About the elopement, of course.”
“Not at all,” Lady Diamond said, exasperated. “I’m not clairvoyant. Yet our son has gone away unexpectedly and then, here you are. What else can I conclude? In fact, when he didn’t turn up to dinner as expected, I said to my husband, our son has probably run away with that pretty, red-headed girl. Didn’t I, my love?”
“You did,” he agreed, then turned to the Chimes. “She honestly did. And I told her I had heard as much at my club from a gentleman with close ties to our son. And now you’ve confirmed it. Do you understand now?”
He was playing the devil but couldn’t stop himself.
On the other hand, his wife appeared resolved to be a hostess. “Diamond, have you offered our visitors wine?”
“Yes, my love, and brandy, but they refused,” he told her.
Turning her smile upon them, he didn’t know how anyone could resist Marianne’s charm. “How about tea, then?” she asked.
“We don’t want anything,” Lady Chimes insisted in clipped tones, “except our daughter.”
“Well,wedon’t have her,” Lady Diamond told them. And then she took a seat, and James realized she’d come to the end of her graciousness already. She did have a rather short rope and little tolerance for anything unpleasant.
“It was careless of you to let her wander away from home unsupervised, don’t you think?” she added.
James wished his countess hadn’t said that. Sure enough, fireworks ensued.
“Let herwander!” Lord Chimes spluttered.
“More like she was snatched,” Lady Chimes put in, but she also took a seat.
James didn’t like that insinuation one bit. “Are you stating you believe our son kidnapped your daughter?”
